Saturday, November 23, 2013

Maui 2013: Pt. 5 - Day to Day

For instance, what comes first? There are the vacation preparations... Like visiting Jennifer to get a Brazilian blowout to have my hair straightened the Monday before we left. This was such a good decision for keeping things easy. I hadn't had one in well over six months, so it was fun to go back to straight hair.

The day before we left was Halloween. We had the regular activities that night and, for fun, we had a quick run to Lattins that morning.

And yes, I let her pick her breakfast.

Our first night there, we chose a place to eat recommended by our friend, Ann. It was super close to our condo - Fred's Mexican. We do not have great Mexican at home, so this was awesome (and we went back two more times). Awesome skinny margaritas, fish tacos, mexican egg rolls - you name it!

Marcie took such a great family picture of us on our last trip. We tried to recreate it and I practiced with my remote one morning. Elyse and I are still in our PJs (well, what she chose to wear to bed). These out-of-focus pictures make me laugh!

Funny, the most focused picture of the next ones is just me! Ugh!

One morning, we headed to Lahaina to board the Sugar Cane Train! I would highly recommend this for families with children. Elyse thought it was super exciting! It is a real steam train that takes you on about a 45-minute ride.

We had an awesome lunch at food trucks in Ka'anapali. I ate at the Shark Pit and had the most amazing hamburger - the paniolo crunch burger. The beef was so tender and the flavors were just fantastic (smoked maple bacon, blue cheese, crispy onions and BBQ aioli). Oh, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Bill ate here and had the coconut shrimp. It was very good, but paled in comparison to my hamburger.

This was Elyse's choice (plus a hot dog).

Back to the train...

The cars were all painted differently and we HAD to ride in the flower train. She wanted a picture in front of it too.

I had my heart set on attending another luau. However, when we arrived and I looked into pricing, even through the discount at Costco it was going to be $180 for all three of us. Plus, it was four hours long. We decided we take her again when she got older. We found this free hula show at the Lahaina Cannery Mall. It was pretty hokey, but did I mention FREE? Then, we had dinner in Lahaina and we all had Lava Flows - just like we would have had at the luau. Elyse's was virgin (of course) and she didn't really like it anyway - too sweet.

Backing up, I got a cold the day we left and the next day Elyse and I ran to Starbucks and the grocery store to stock up on contingencies.

We kept passing this sign for a Demolition Derby. I said to Bill that we had wanted to do things we hadn't done in Maui before and that would definitely be it! When we got there Bill said, "This looks super sketchy". Let's just say, it definitely was. However, it was fun! It was way too loud for Elyse (she kept her hands covering her ears the entire time), but she liked it and didn't want to leave. They had harvested the nearby sugarcane fields that day and it was particularly windy (as you can see). The wind kicked up that dirt and there was constant grit flying through the air - it was in our eyes, ears, nose and when I washed my face that night the washcloth turned black!

Elyse is most definitely three. This was one night outside the Foodland grocery store. Hawaiian time out.

Another first, I was bitten by sand fleas or sand mites and had an allergic reaction. I had taken these photos to send to my friend, Kim who was helping diagnose me by phone.We worried initially I had chicken pox or something because I had the bumps everywhere (I will spare you from some of the worse photos - they were terrible on the soles of my feet). I had red bumps on my hands, feet, scalp and even my nose! Benadryl and Pepcid were the magic combination that brought me quick relief. Thank you, Kim!

It was gloriously sunny and warm just about every day we were in Kihei, with amazing trade winds to help just when you got too hot. Except the day we were leaving - it was terribly stormy. It was perfect!

Ben and Linda recommended this place - Da Kitchen. They had amazing kalua pork and incredibly tender chicken teriyaki - we went there three times too! It was a hole-in-the-wall in a strip mall and I probably never would have thought about going there if it weren't for the rave reviews on-line and from our friends.

My favorite place for pizza was a place called Tiki Lounge. It was another place we frequented during our visit and was also recommended (on our last trip). One night when my feet were so swollen from the bites, Bill even ran and brought it back to the condo! Their chicken Thai-Phoon pizza is awesome!

On the airplane we were saved by technology. On the way back, we even rented a second iPad so Bill and I could watch movies too. (However, I will warn you - they take them back 30-45 minutes before landing, so time your movie viewing appropriately!).

Do you do this? I take pictures of things I see in magazines that interest me. Doesn't this smoothie sound good?

I want to try this chicken!

If I could get my hands on a Home Depot coupon, I'd love to have this!

There you have it, a quick look into the miscellaneous things we did on our trip. Wow, I want to go back!